| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: has been so inexcusably artful and ungenerous since our marriage was first
in agitation that no one less amiable and mild than himself could have
overlooked it all; and though, as his brother's widow, and in narrow
circumstances, it was proper to render her pecuniary assistance, I cannot
help thinking his pressing invitation to her to visit us at Churchhill
perfectly unnecessary. Disposed, however, as he always is to think the
best of everyone, her display of grief, and professions of regret, and
general resolutions of prudence, were sufficient to soften his heart and
make him really confide in her sincerity; but, as for myself, I am still
unconvinced, and plausibly as her ladyship has now written, I cannot make
up my mind till I better understand her real meaning in coming to us. You
 Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: Some of the damsels mounted on pillions behind their favorite
swains, and their light-hearted laughter, mingling with the
clatter of hoofs, echoed along the silent woodlands, sounding
fainter and fainter, until they gradually died away, --and the
late scene of noise and frolic was all silent and deserted.
Ichabod only lingered behind, according to the custom of country
lovers, to have a tete-a-tete with the heiress; fully convinced
that he was now on the high road to success. What passed at this
interview I will not pretend to say, for in fact I do not know.
Something, however, I fear me, must have gone wrong, for he
certainly sallied forth, after no very great interval, with an
 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Night and Day by Virginia Woolf: married, surely if ever a man loved a woman, William loves you. And
it's a nice, rich-sounding name too--Katharine Rodney, which,
unfortunately, doesn't mean that he's got any money, because he
hasn't."
The alteration of her name annoyed Katharine, and she observed, rather
sharply, that she didn't want to marry any one.
"It's very dull that you can only marry one husband, certainly," Mrs.
Hilbery reflected. "I always wish that you could marry everybody who
wants to marry you. Perhaps they'll come to that in time, but
meanwhile I confess that dear William--" But here Mr. Hilbery came in,
and the more solid part of the evening began. This consisted in the
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